Obama
I've being watching the presidential race in the states with some interest in the last couple of months, and thought that this vid by obama was well worth watching in regards to his christian view points. Its quite long though at just under 40 mins. Im hoping that he continues to dominate in the primaries...
And I found the following comment posted today very thought provoking, and in an odd way encouraging and convicting all at the same time- left on this post from early last year
The bloggers on the 'forefront' of the whole emerging whatever are nowhere near the front of this 'movement'. The problem with the blogging movement is that the people involved 'myself included' still have this need to be heard, and have an impact that is noticeable and measurable.
Christ was alone, He died alone, He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. We esteemed Him not. Those who are on the true front line identify with Christ in this, and you have never heard of them, neither have I. Those who have truly 'arrived' are entirely anonymous and their deeds will be manifest in eternity for they received no reward here in this life, but trekked this road with Christ alone. Who is the greatest preacher on earth? Likely some poor African preaching in the congo somewhere to 10 people. Not some emergent speaker on the front line of deconstruction.
Just a thought, I appreciate your post, and agree with it, but in reality it amounts to nothing, as does this comment.
And I found the following comment posted today very thought provoking, and in an odd way encouraging and convicting all at the same time- left on this post from early last year
The bloggers on the 'forefront' of the whole emerging whatever are nowhere near the front of this 'movement'. The problem with the blogging movement is that the people involved 'myself included' still have this need to be heard, and have an impact that is noticeable and measurable.
Christ was alone, He died alone, He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. We esteemed Him not. Those who are on the true front line identify with Christ in this, and you have never heard of them, neither have I. Those who have truly 'arrived' are entirely anonymous and their deeds will be manifest in eternity for they received no reward here in this life, but trekked this road with Christ alone. Who is the greatest preacher on earth? Likely some poor African preaching in the congo somewhere to 10 people. Not some emergent speaker on the front line of deconstruction.
Just a thought, I appreciate your post, and agree with it, but in reality it amounts to nothing, as does this comment.
This entry was posted by Sam, on
Friday, February 22, 2008.
You can leave your response.
23 February 2008 at 9:42:00 am NZDT
Do you remember the scene in Forrest Gump when he's been running for 2 years or something then suddenly he stops (with all those people following him) and announces he'd like to go home now and turns around and starts the slow walk home?
And all his followers look baffled, bewildered and bemused, shrug their shoulders, shuffle their feet and dont know what to do next?
Well about 2 weeks ago I had the same sort of realisation with my blog.
Suddenly I realised that my time blogging was over. That I neither desired, needed, or wanted my blog anymore. So I deleted it. And as soon as I hit delete, I felt free!! It felt great!
(Not that I had any "followers" or anything!!)
Actually dont know what the point of this comment is, other than that in my mind it is somehow related to the comment quoted on your post Sam.
Over and out!!
:)
Debs
25 February 2008 at 12:27:00 pm NZDT
Woah there Sam! What're you trying to say with that quote? Sounds a little like that guys a nihilist
to me.
Fundamentally I would have to disagree with what he says. The reason Christ came was for the whole of humanity, not just 10 people in the African Congo. And as far as the greatest preacher in the world. I would have to say it's probably anyone who hears God's voice and obeys him. So that could be a whole bunch of different people doing different things in different areas.
The bible puts it way more eloquently - Matthew 5:14 "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden."
My 2 cents - :)
Love keeping up with the blog by the way. Really good honest down to earth stuff.
- Ezra
25 February 2008 at 1:07:00 pm NZDT
wow, i was totally impacted by that comment, but then what ezra said was good too...
I am reminded of a proverb that says something about not praising yourself but leaving that to others. I think that is the middle ground we go for as bloggers. We bloggers simply offer what we have, and often what we have is not what 10 Africans really care for. We are missionaries to a postmodern world, not a primitive tribal world, and the revelation we have is missional to a world that is highly exposed, not hidden in a jungle somewhere.
Just think about it, if Jesus' chief aim was to be alone, and to be despised and rejected by men, then he would have failed miserably. Despite how sidelined we think Christianity might be, he remains the most honoured, and most accepted and befriended man in the history of the world. Ezra is right, there is a bigger temptation than the nihilism which so often becomes a "spiritual temptation" for us.
25 February 2008 at 3:08:00 pm NZDT
yawn to jay. it sounds odd coming from someone who has six blogs. obviously he thinks his voice matters.
if his sentiment is that there's a whole lot of talk and not a lot of doing, then sure i'd agree. but he's way simplified things. the truth is that a lot of the talkers are the doers. you just have to read their material to see that this has come out of experience.
i'm yet to come across too many emerging church theoreticians who don't dwell in the immediate experiences of what they do.
yawn. thowing darts at people is really easy and so while his comment amounts to nothing, he actually wants it to amount to something—which it has.
but sam, i'm suprised you indulged him. you're stronger than that. humility is not self-abasement . . . it's knowing who you are—both good and bad.
kia kaha.
25 February 2008 at 3:10:00 pm NZDT
i should have checked my last comment before i posted it . . . bits of it expose me as being a bit of an idiot!
c'est la vie.
25 February 2008 at 6:09:00 pm NZDT
I think what Jay is trying to say is that we have a need for validation of our thoughts and opinions from others, this 'need to be heard'. And sometimes, this personal need is disguised by something else. I think there is a problem when someone represents something as some great service to the world when really it is used to gratify and validate themselves.
Blogging is an example of this in extreme form, there are blogs which go into detail about what the author ate for breakfast that day etc. It is not common for there to be books published with two line chapters dedicated to the fact that the author prefers marmite to vegemite, but because blogging is so accessible everyone can flood the net with screeds of mundane discourse in an attempt to meet their 'need to be heard'.
In my point of view, Christians who blog could have a tendancy to disguise their own non-divine thoughts as some kind of biblical truth, as an excuse to get validated. Not that this is anything new, people do it all the time with the words they speak to each other, and some preachers do it from the pulpit. But society seems to put a greater value on the written word, that somehow if something is printed it is more valid.
Placing our self worth on others validation and opinions is a constant struggle for many of us, who should be seeking that affirmation from God. For me that is pretty hard to do in the society we live in. Or maybe less of us would have the "need to be heard" if we spent more time listening, hearing and encouraging each other without being requested to, but because we recognise our own need in others and respond to that accordingly?
25 February 2008 at 6:15:00 pm NZDT
And for a perfect example of someone disguising their own non-divine thought as biblical truth check out the video on Phill's blog titled "Make it Stop!"
www.virtuphill.blogspot.com
It's so bad.
25 February 2008 at 10:02:00 pm NZDT
another goood scripture to remember when blogging is this: "knowledge puffs up, but love builds up". It is very easy to be way too puffy sometimes...
27 February 2008 at 12:02:00 am NZDT
Nomes, at comment #6 said
"In my point of view, Christians who blog could have a tendancy to disguise their own non-divine thoughts as some kind of biblical truth, as an excuse to get validated"
This is why you should alway put loads of swear words in your blog posts. So everyone assumes that you're not trying to speak for God. ;)